Nice terror attack update: No Aussie reported on victims list

No Australian citizen has been reported harmed during the bloody Bastille Day attack in Nice so far as French authorities continuously publish identity of the casualties.

At least 84 people, including 10 children, perished last Thursday after Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a 19-tonne lorry through a crowded Promenade des Anglais just as fireworks display celebrating French National Day was about to end. Bouhlel, a 31-year-old French-Tunisian resident of Nice, reportedly drove for at least 2 kilometres along the beachfront promenade, killing revellers on the truck’s path before being shot dead by police.

Various media outlets have reported on the identity of the victims, but not all 84 fatalities have been named so far. A total of 303 were reportedly injured and 65 of the victims remain in hospital while 18 are under intensive care as of press time.

Of identified casualities, no one hails from Australia. There was also no pronouncement from the Australian Embassy in France or the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on any related information.

In a Facebook post, the Australian Embassy in France said French officials and soldiers were participating in the French national holiday in Paris last July 14.

“The Governor General of Australia, his excellency general sir Peter Cosgrove, visited this evening at a reception organized by the French Minister of defense in preparation for the 14th of July parade to which Australia is guest of honor,” the post reads.

“The Governor General is here alongside some of the 140 Australian soldiers who are marching tomorrow, as well as the Australian Ambassador in France Stephen Brady,” the post adds.

For his part, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull assured fraternity to the people of France, “our nations are united in freedom’s cause today, just as we were a hundred years ago.”

Sympathies for the family of those perished in the attack in Nice, France continue to pour worldwide. Pope Francis himself joined sympathisers, saying “I pray for the victims of the attack in Nice and families. I ask God to change the heart of the violent blinded by hatred.”